


Another Way

by The_Clockwork_Monk



Series: Aang/Katara Missing Scenes [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Bloodbending (Avatar), Denial of Feelings, Episode: s03e18-21 Sozin's Comet, Extended Scene, F/M, Gen, Katara is bad at feelings, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28028004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Clockwork_Monk/pseuds/The_Clockwork_Monk
Summary: With Aang desperate for a way to stop the Fire Lord without taking his life, Zuko suddenly remembers what Katara did to the commander of the Southern Raiders.
Relationships: Aang & The Gaang (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Aang/Katara Missing Scenes [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1640980
Comments: 3
Kudos: 55





	Another Way

"Aang, we do understand," said Katara, as patiently as she could, "It's just—"

"—Just _what,_ Katara? _What!?_ "

"We're trying to help!" she was yelling now.

"Then one of _you_ figure out a way for me to beat the Firelord without taking his life!" Aang spat back, his voice choking with emotion, "I'd love to hear it!"

He turned away and stormed off out of the courtyard back into the house.

"Aang, don't walk away from this!" Katara called after him. She made to follow him, but felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Let him go," said Zuko, "He needs time to sort it out by himself."

Every instinct in her told her to never let Aang deal with something on his own as long as she could help him, but she had to admit that Zuko might be right, and she could just make things worse.

"I guess there really isn't much more to say anyway," she muttered reluctantly and sat back down on the stone steps. "I certainly don't know how to talk Aang into being a killer."

"None of us do," said Sokka sternly, "and none of us will. The only thing that will convince Aang is time. As we get closer to the comet, he'll have to eventually face the fact that there's no way out of this."

"I just don't know what this will do to him," Katara said miserably, hugging her knees to her chest, "I've never seen him this helpless, even when we lost Appa. He just feels so trapped, he wants another way and _I_ feel trapped since I can't give him one."

Zuko's usual moody frown was replaced with his eyes widening in realization. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Katara.

"Hey! Maybe that's it!" he said, excited now, " _We_ can't give him another way, but maybe _you_ can, Katara."

"What do you mean?" asked Katara, "I certainly don't know how to remove the threat of the most powerful firebender in the world, supercharged by a comet, while also not killing him."

"What about that technique you used against the commander of the Southern Raiders?" Zuko asked.

Fear struck Katara like a hammer and her breath caught in her chest. In a panic, she looked around to discover that the others had indeed heard the worthless idiot, turning toward her with curiosity.

"What technique?" asked Suki.

"Nothing!" Katara said forcefully, but Zuko was looking away from her so he couldn't see the deadly glare she was sending him.

"Come on, Katara, like you said, we're desperate for ideas, and so is Aang," Suki pressed, "It certainly won't hurt."

"I suppose a waterbending technique would be ideal to defeat the Fire Lord," mused Sokka thoughtfully.

"Yeah, they say to 'fight fire with fire,' but that always sounded stupid to me," said Toph, picking at her toes, "Makes much more sense to fight fire with _water,_ right?"

"She moved her hands, and the commander's entire _body_ just went limp," said Zuko, "and then it was like she could control his arms and legs."

Katara winced as Suki frowned in confusion, Toph gaped in shock, and Sokka scowled at her in fury.

"YOU _BLOODBENDED_ SOMEONE!?" her brother shouted at her, springing to his feet, "How could you possibly do that again! Have you been doing it this whole time?"

"No, I swear!" said Katara defensively, trying to shrink into the floor, "It was just that one time, I thought he was the one who killed mom."

"I'm sorry, but we seem to keep forgetting that I haven't always been here," said Suki, raising her hand, "What exactly is bloodbending?"

"It's when a waterbender bends the blood in someone's body," Sokka told his girlfriend, "It's turning someone's own body against them and exerting _complete_ control over them." He turned back to stare daggers at Katara. "It's a disgusting perversion of waterbending that only a cruel coward would use!"

"Before the eclipse, we came across this crazy old lady," explained Toph, "She was a waterbender living in hiding in the Fire Nation. She'd abduct people at night, take them prisoner, and control them like puppets."

"Yeah, and she took control of _me_ and tried to make me _kill Aang!"_ shouted Sokka, throwing his hands in the air, "I honestly can't believe this!"

Katara just hung her head and didn't say anything.

Zuko was frowning and looking back and forth between the two of them.

"I'm…. _sorry,_ but am I the only one who doesn't get what the big deal is? You've got a way to instantly, _non-fatally_ incapacitate someone. I can think of a hundred scenarios where that would be useful, like, oh I don't know, _the one that we're in right now!_ Sure, it can do terrible things in the wrong hands, but that's true of all bending. Heck, that's true of every _sword_ that's ever been made."

"Not to mention what this could mean for healing," said Suki, "If you can control the blood in someone's body, there's all kinds of injuries and illnesses you could treat with that."

"I'll agree it's a pretty dirty tactic," said Toph, shrugging, "but we don't really have the luxury of fighting 'honorably,' on account of, ya know, the whole world about to burn. I'm pretty sure Aang will feel better after tying the Firelord into a knot than killing him."

Sokka was scowling deeply at all of them. "None of you understand. You weren't there, you didn't have it used on you. You're a prisoner in your own body. Every inch of you is _crawling,_ like there's something inside you, like you're about to explode or get turned inside out." His voice began to break, and he stared at his trembling hand as he slowly opened and closed it.

"When someone does this to you, you stop being a person. You're just….a _thing._ Just some meat. It's _inherently_ evil, it's nothing like any other kind of bending or weapon. I don't expect any of you to understand.

"But _you_ do!" he rounded on Katara again, "You had that done to you but still did it!"

"Will you _back off_ already!?" Katara finally spat back at him, jumping to her feet to get on his level, "I already said it was one time! I'm never going to do it again!"

"I'm sure the people of the Earth Kingdom will take comfort in the wake of their nation being burned that you and Aang didn't have to corrupt your beliefs," said Zuko dryly, "I kind of expected something like this from him about taking a life, I never would have thought we'd have to worry about this squeamishness from you, about something that _doesn't_ kill! If you can't do it yourself, at least teach Aang how to do it."

"No," said Katara resolutely, crossing her arms and turning away from them, "If _I_ feel sick at the idea of bloodbending again, Aang will be even more against it. He's a better person than me, after all."

Zuko was taken aback by that last part, exchanging an awkward glance with Suki and Sokka, before continuing uneasily. "Um...isn't that Aang's decision? He's being torn in two and I think he'll take any way out of taking a life."

"Yeah!" said Toph, "The Air Nomads strictly considered all life sacred, but I bet they didn't have any rules regarding a form of bending of a different element that didn't exist yet. Loophole!" she cried cheerfully.

"I'm going to go at least suggest it to him, he can make up his own mind," said Zuko. He went to follow Aang into the house.

" _NO!_ " Katara cried, spinning back around. Her unease had given way to outright panic and fear. "No Zuko, _please_ don't say anything to him! The rest of you too, he can never know what I did!"

The rest of them just sat for a moment, surprised by the desperate tone in her voice.

Sokka shuffled his feet and hung his head. "Look Katara….I'm sorry I blew up at you. I don't think you're some heartless witch like Hama or that you're gonna start bloodbending left and right. You know how patient and zen Aang is, I'm sure he wouldn't react the same way."

"Yes, Sokka, I know he wouldn't yell at me," said Katara, "don't patronize me. It's still the worst thing I've ever done, and would rather no one else find out about it if I can help it. If Aang found out what I did, there'd be no going back from that. It would….he'd never look at me the same way again." Her voice caught in her throat and she turned away from them so they couldn't see the tears starting to sting in her eyes.

Aang had been so relieved when he found out that she had decided to spare the man who had killed her mother. He had smiled at her with such pride and affection that it made her heart ache. But also queasy with guilt, because he didn't know just how close she had come, and what she had done on her way there. If he knew just how dark she allowed her thoughts to get sometimes, she was certain that he wouldn't have said those things during the play.

It was part of why she couldn't bring herself to explore her feelings for him. He had such an inflated opinion of her that she felt she didn't deserve. Every time he gave her that look of complete adoration, she felt like she was lying to him.

Sokka carefully walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Katara, you know that Aang isn't immune to losing control himself. You saw how crazy he got with the people who took Appa. If he found out, he'd understand. It wouldn't…" he took a deep breath and steeled himself "...it wouldn't change how he feels about you."

Katara's breath hitched and she jerked away from him, spinning to face them all. She could feel her face burning.

" _I don't know what you're talking about!"_ she hissed at him, staring daggers into his eyes.

There was a brief pause, then all four of her friends (including Zuko) burst into raucous laughter. She blushed even harder and wished she was an earthbender, so she could sink into the ground.

"Seriously?" asked Zuko, raising his remaining eyebrow, "We're still doing this?"

"What do _you_ mean, 'seriously?' You just got here," moaned Sokka, "I've been dealing with this since we cracked open that stupid iceberg."

"Hey, at least you don't have to feel their hearts going all a-flutter every time they look at each other," Toph fake-swooned, clutching her chest dramatically.

"Okay, I'm going to be completely honest," said Suki, still laughing, "I actually thought you two were already a thing for weeks after we got back from the Boiling Rock. That's just the energy you guys are giving off." That made the other three laugh even harder.

" _Shut up!"_ yelled Katara. Eventually, the laughter died down when they saw how serious she was.

"We promise not to tell Aang," said Zuko, "You can tell him if and when you're ready."

"But it's probably a good idea to clear the air about it before your wedding day," said Toph.

"Thank you," said Katara, ignoring Toph, "it was a valid idea, Zuko, but in any case, even the woman who invented bloodbending was only able to do it on the full moon. I doubt me or Aang would be able to do it on the day of the comet."

Zuko's smile vanished and he looked at her blankly. "Really? Why didn't you just say that at the start? We could have avoided half this conversation."

"Yeah, I know," she said Katara, angry at herself for getting upset and not thinking.

"It's just as well," sighed Zuko as he sat back down on the steps to the house. "Even if you could disable him, that's just a temporary solution. He's one of the two most powerful firebenders in the world, we'd never be able to contain him forever. And half the Fire Nation worships him, almost literally. As long as the possibility exists for him to reclaim the throne in some glorious Agni Kai, the country will never be free. There's no other way, he has to die."

The laughter from just a few moments ago was long gone, as everyone was reminded of the extremely un-Aang thing that Aang had to do. There was nothing more to be said, everything came down to him.

"If there's another way, he's going to be the one to find it, not us" Katara said quietly, "Aang is the best of us, he'll never stop trying, right until the last moment. But if he doesn't find it, he'll do what's necessary to protect the world."

"To protect _you,_ more like," muttered Sokka under his breath.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Oh, would all of you _grow up?_ " and she stormed into the house, leaving her friends snickering behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> In 2008, we all watched Aang yell at his friends that he needed a way to defeat Ozai without killing him, and I shouted, out loud in my living room, "just bloodbend him!"
> 
> This story is a result of that knocking around in my head for 12 years.


End file.
